You’re probably thinking you’re pretty special right about now, aren’t you Saskatoon? Thanks to the Centre For Inquiry, James “The Amazing” Randi is coming to speak in your city.
And no. I’m not jealous.
For those who don’t know, Randi is a magician who’s more famous now for his work as a skeptic and debunker.
He’s the guy who exposed faith-healer Peter Popoff as a fraud in the 1970s. Story goes, Randi and a group of confederates showed up at one of Popoff’s healings with radio receivers and were able to tune into the supposedly miraculous messages Popoff was receiving — details about where people in the audience lived and what they were afflicted with — only the messages weren’t coming from god, they were coming from Popoff’s wife.
He also took on Uri Geller, showing how all of his supernatural feats were really magic tricks. And, through his James Randi Educational Foundation, he offers a $1 million prize to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal ability while under scientific controls. So far, the prize lies unclaimed.
He is the author of Flim Flam!, Houdini: His Life and Art, The Faith Healers, and The Mask of Nostradamus.
Randi will be appearing September 26 at 7pm at the Roxy Theatre in bloody full-of-itself Sasaktoon. More details at the CFI Saskatoon website.
Where was this guy when we needed him in Fort Qu’Appelle last weekend?
Ahh! Now I have to grapple with whether or not I can skip rehearsal to go see this (my director is an Atheist, he may understand).